For the Greater Good
by firetrap
Summary: There's something strange about Kiran.


There was something strange about Kiran, Alfonse noticed, and it had been happening for almost a month. At first, he doubted these thoughts, laughing them off when he asked Sharena for an opinion on the matter. She would re-state his question, confused, and he could see why she would think them as silly.

"Do I think that Kiran is making heroes disappear before we meet them?"

"No, you're right. That's silly of me. He would never do that when he knows we need all the help we can get," he'd say, and Sharena would smile.

"Of course. He's the best summoner we've had! Well, the only one…" Sharena trailed off, walking away lost in thought.

But Alfonse's suspicions about Kiran hiding heroes were beginning to once again manifesting.

"Don't you think he's spending too much time with Robin?" he asked the commander one morning over the daily weapon cleaning.

"Hmm?" she was wiping down her axe with a polishing rag.

"Ever since he came, I feel as if Kiran is…I don't know…drifting away from us?" He set Fólkvangr down next to him.

"What are you talking about? Of course he'd want to spend time with him. They're both tacticians after all," Anna smiled. "Or is it…you're jealous? Having your friend not spend so much time with you as he used to?"

"What? No! If Kiran wants to spend time with Robin, he can do that. I'm sure they have a lot to learn from one another…Robin being a master tactician and all…"

The commander laughed.

"And you're the one always telling him not to get too close to heroes. Yet, here you are, almost dependent on his company!"

"That's not true…" he said, and continued wiping down his sword, along with the rest of the army's weapons in silence.

* * *

When the third battle in the World of Awakening concluded and the female counterpart of Robin joined the army, he was sure Kiran would want to spend time with her, too, since she was a master tactician as well.

But he paid her no attention past her initial welcome to the army.

He bumped into her one evening on his way to the barracks.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said behind a towering stack of books. Alfonse could scarcely see her head save for the ponytails protruding from the sides.

"It's not a problem. Would you like me to help you with those?" he offered.

"Ah, well…" she seemed to be struggling. "I'm heading to the common room, if it's not too much to ask…"

"Not at all," Alfonse assured, taking the top half of the stack in his arms. He led the way to the common room where Tiki, Kagero, Jakob, and Henry were already seated.

Behind him, Robin placed down the books and sighed. Alfonse did the same.

"Thank you for your help," she smiled.

"Again, not a problem…" the question burning inside him could no longer be contained. "By any chance have you spoken to Kiran? He's a formidable tactician like you."

"Hm? Kiran?" Robin was already half-way skimming through a book. "No, I haven't spoken to him lately."

"Lately? When was the last time you spoke to him?"

"Hmm…" she put a finger to her chin, thinking.

"I've spoken to Kiran!" came a voice from behind him. It was Henry.

"Really?" Alfonse's curiosity spiked. Henry was no tactician. But he knew he had a mind for dark magic and a fondness for crows.

"Yessir!" Henry said, and he turned away quickly.

"Wait, when was the last time you spoke to him? What did he say?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Henry laughed. He turned away again.

"It looks like an eyeball?" Alfonse heard Jakob say.

"No…it's supposed to be a cat," followed Kagero's voice.

"Henry?"

"Weeeell, ok. I talked to him a few hours ago. He asked me about my weapon, and my knack for facing enemy green tomes."

"…That's all?" Alfonse seemed surprised. He'd thought that there would be dark arts involved if Henry was part of it.

"That's right! Well, bye!" And he was off.

Perhaps he was wrong about his suspicions after all. He saw Henry leave towards inventory supplies and felt a tad bit lighter. It wasn't dark arts, perhaps Kiran's meetings with Robin had been just as the commander suggested.

As he walked away from the common room, he saw Jakob with a pained expression on his face trying his best not to insult Kagero's (ogre?) painting. Robin had her face buried already between a book's pages. And Tiki, she looked at Alfonse warily. She seemed to be contemplating something exchanging quick glances between him and the door.

He frowned. As he was about to approach her, she skittered away and Alfonse lost sight of her.

* * *

The next time Alfonse had a bad feeling about Kiran was weeks after his encounter with Henry. It was hours before dawn when Alfonse awoke after a dreamless, restless, sleep. He lay there in his bed listening to the ringing in his ears when he heard something other than that. A clinking noise like glass—like orbs!

Someone was in the inventory where the orbs were kept.

He didn't bother to put on his shoes as he sprinted down the castle steps and into the chamber where the orbs, feathers, and blessings resided. He stopped at the door, panting as he saw a hooded figure, Breidablik in hand.

"Kiran?"

Kiran turned and faced Alfonse. There was already a figure manifesting behind him.

"What are you doing? Why are you summoning so late…?"

The figure took shape and it was the shape of a woman. She was dressed in black, holding a red tome whilst looking annoyed at being called.

Alfonse recognized her as the dark sorceress Tharja from the World of Awakening.

"I know we need more heroes for the battles against Veronica, but this could wait until morning," Alfonse said.

But Kiran kept shooting Breidablik.

Two more heroes manifested. One was a hero Naga's Voice, an older version of Tiki who was already in their ranks. The next one was the Solitary Blade Lon'qu, from the World of Awakening like Tharja.

"You're here, too?" asked Tharja, scowling.

"Stay back," Lon-qu said quickly, stepping away from both Tiki and Tharja.

"Where is Robin?" Tharja asked of Kiran.

He answered her.

"So, he's here, too, is he?" she smiled clutching her tome. "This must be fate…"

There were enough orbs in the summoner's gun to call two more heroes, but Kiran did not summon anymore.

"Yes, we should summon more in the morning," Alfonse agreed. But he remained suspicious of Kiran as his friend tucked away the legendary weapon in his robe. He wondered, why having two more chances of summoning, Kiran decided not to summon. Nevertheless, Alfonse went back to bed after showing the new recruits the way to the barracks. He promised to explain everything in the morning.

* * *

After the strange nighttime encounter, Alfonse hadn't once heard suspicious sounds from the inventory room again. It seemed Kiran's late excursions had ceased once Alfonse took note of them. He had decided not to tell the commander or Sharena about anything that he saw that night. He had simply said that he and Kiran had awoken before anyone else that morning and summoned more heroes.

"Well, you should have waited until we were all present," the commander reprimanded, "It would certainly make things easier to explain."

It wasn't. Both Tharja and Lon'qu had asked why the traveling merchant had suddenly become commander.

"It's getting a tad annoying," she said, "being mistaken for someone else. "Although I am curious about this mysterious seller they all keep talking about…"

* * *

Alfonse's thoughts kept racing back to the night Tharja was summoned. Here was another dark sorcerer like Henry, yet Tharja had disappeared into Kiran's inner circle as Robin had. He would see all three of them huddled together in a corner. The vibrant face of the master tactician had all but transformed into one shadowed with something Alfonse could not put a name to. And it wasn't because of Tharja clinging to his arm. Robin scarcely seemed bothered by it—or was it he hardly noticed?

"I take it you're still jealous over our tactician over there," giggled Anna.

"N-no, that's not it…" he trailed off. He couldn't disclose his suspicions to the commander.

"Well, why don't you go talk to him? He could be so busy with the next plans that he doesn't notice anything except when it's time to battle."

Alfonse said nothing. He nodded to Anna and headed for the inventory, but half-way there, he decided to continue to the barracks.

Upon entering the room, he spotted the person he was looking for.

"Henry, what does your weapon do that makes it special?"

"Huh? Oh, well it makes the bad guys go boom! And then a lot of blood comes out," he stated, feeding one of his crows something that looked like yellow bread dough.

"Er, that's not exactly—how should I put this…" he thought of another way to phrase his question.

"How…how is it different from other dark tomes?"

The crow on Henry's shoulder pecked at its master's fingers taking more food.

"Well, it's good against daggers, arrows, magic staffs…oh, and green magic!"

* * *

On the battlefield, Alfonse guarded the younger Tiki. He knew her weaknesses were heroes with the legendary weapon Falchion, which slayed dragons and the current hero before him.

Julia held her tome above her ready for an attack. At this distance, Alfonse would not be able to reach her in time. Either he or Tiki would fall to one of her attacks.

As she raised her hand to release her magic, however, a string of red magic flew past him, followed by a sinister laugh.

"You're already dead…"

Julia had only been able to cast one of her spells while Tharja cast two, defeating her instantly. But Julia had done her damage. Tharja clutched her body in pain. Another enemy had come up behind Julia's defeated body, ready to attack the wounded mage. He held his shield and sword at the ready, closing in for a strike. Alfonse was in range, ready to protect his teammate, but he heard Kiran's guiding voice call for Tiki to defend.

Tiki moved forward, and she turned into a dragon, shielding Tharja behind her.

She threw out her fire, once, twice, before defeating the faceless soldier and leaving his body charred. Tharja looked composed once again. "I had him…" she muttered, as the scrapes on her body vanished.

This was Tiki's special power as a dragon scion. She had the power to heal team members and that made her invaluable to the team.

There were no more soldiers on the field and a victory was assured by the commander as she crossed over to them from the other side of the field. "That seems to be all of them. But be on the lookout for other enemies. They might be hiding out of sight."

Alfonse approached Tiki, "Good job out there," he stated. "Did you get faster? I saw how quickly you countered the enemy. Perhaps we should train together sometime?" He meant to encourage her, as he did everybody in the army. But his words seemed to wound the young manakete. She clutched her dragonstone and hurried off ahead of him.

* * *

Later that day, Alfonse had finished polishing the swords, this time with Sharena's help when he heard shouting. He looked to his sister and they both ran out the door.

They stopped before the summon stones where a crowd had gathered as Eliwood hugged the new member to the castle. Hector was enjoying the sight, definitely not crying, as well as the rest of the castle. Shanna, Est, and Catria were smiling from above at the heartwarming scene.

As Eliwood released the figure, Alfonse saw that it was a boy, almost the exact image of Eliwood. It was Roy, the hero-son of Eliwood, and he understood the reason for the man's celebration. Being reunited with his son would be cause for excitement in anyone…being reunited with a loved one…

He smiled, wondering if he would ever reunite with his lost friend…

Suddenly, Sharena jumped into his arms.

"Isn't it wonderful, Alfonse! Kiran summoned Roy! Now he can be together with his father. Isn't he the best summoner ever?" She giggled, releasing him and running off to the inner circle to welcome the new arrival. The entire castle seemed to be in an uproar. Everyone was buzzing with pleas to Kiran to summon their friends, sisters—

"Bah! I wouldn't have him summon _my_ brother. My sister on the other hand…" Minerva commented to Cherche.

"I know what you mean. I wouldn't ask him to summon my former liege any time soon," she said, making sure to stress "former."

Alfonse meant to thank Kiran for once again summoning superb heroes to their ranks but the hooded man had disappeared.

"You know what! I think we should celebrate. This is the first time something like this has happened! We'll hold a feast!" Anna declared, and the castle erupted in cheers, but they rapidly turned into requests for certain foods.

"All right, all right!" the commander yelled. "Now who is going to help with the cooking?"

Kiran must have disappeared in the commotion, Alfonse thought. I should go ask him what dish he'd prefer…

Alfonse smiled. The perfect opportunity to approach his friend had arrived. During the feast, he'd be sure to have an easy conversation with his friend.

* * *

Later that evening, Alfonse still couldn't find Kiran.

He asked the heroes within the castle if they had seen him, but all seemed pre-occupied with the preparations. Others with cleaning up after their disasters…

"Sorry, sorry. I tripped…" Felicia apologized to Leo from the floor. The prince sighed heavily.

"Do not fear! For Odin Dark has a perfect solution for this!" Odin exclaimed in that strange pose Alfonse was still not used to witnessing.

"No! Please, just no. I'll…handle this," Leo bent down to help Felicia pick up her scattered dishes and trays.

"But milord! You're just picking up forks and spoons! You should be magicking them into place! Levitating them to do your bidding!"

"Uh, sorry to interrupt," Alfonse began.

"Oh! Milord!" Felicia blushed, staring at the mess she caused in the middle of the corridor.

"It's not a problem. It happens to the best of us," Alfonse assured.

"Some more than others…" Leo said, and Felicia turned redder.

"Er, I was just going to ask, have any of you seen Kiran? I missed him at the summoning earlier and didn't get a chance to ask him what he wanted for his meal. I was going to ask before the kitchens closed. Donnel, Jakob, and Frederick seem to be reaching their ends. Well, Jakob more with the other two than anything…"

"I assure you, Odin Dark, has seen not seen our great summoner!"

"Nor have I," Leo agreed, standing with a neat tray in his hands.

"Um, I think I saw him earlier with Robin and Tharja…"

Again, the uneasy feeling in his gut stirred. It was the beginning of a celebration after all. It was not odd for them to be together…

"Well…if you see them again, please tell them to head for the kitchens before they close."

"Oh, milord!" Felicia called to him as he began his way back to get food of his own. "I saw them go in to the training grounds. Perhaps they're still there?"

Alfonse nodded, smiling at the clumsy maid. "Yes, thank you. I will go look for them."

However, the prince didn't go look for them. He headed to the kitchens as he had decided once Felicia had told him of Kiran's company. There, he followed the commander to the mess hall where practically all the heroes had gathered. He sat with his sister Sharena and the commander. Together, they laughed, but Alfonse didn't know what they were laughing about. He scarcely heard a word of what they were saying to him, but he pretended he did nonetheless. Everything was starting to piece together. Tiki's quickened attacks, Tharja's ability to counter Julia of all mages…

He scanned the room for Henry…and as he expected, found that the sorcerer was absent. He looked around for another hero already aware of her absence for a long time. Yet now, he could finally feel the impact of her disappearance. The first hero to be sent home by Kiran was a cavalier named Sully. He had been saddened by her departure but Kiran had told him it was a necessary departure, and he didn't argue against him. Although, no one had seen her off. Only Kiran had, announcing her departure one morning to the commander. Had Alfonse not been already discussing Veronica's motives, he probably would have never heard the news from Kiran at all.

That was when Kiran began to act strangely. That had been…such a long time ago. Since then, his friend had strayed from him, visiting the summoning room frequently. Alfonse had completely lost him when Robin appeared. The legendary tactician Robin, said to have a tome that would rival any bow, dagger, or staff. He was a godsend since at the time. The army had been struggling to defeat Veronica's heroes of the World of Conquest. Their archer would completely decimate the army easily. When Robin came, he gave the Askr army the chance to finally defeat them. They cheered his presence since he had saved them almost single-handedly. For a tactician, he knew how tohold his own on the battlefield. Alfonse could still picture the smiling Robin after every battle, happy to have been useful.

But other than that, he also noticed how Kiran admired him silently, until he finally approached the other tactician. At first, he thought it was like commander Anna had told him: they were both skilled tacticians and would surely have secret strategies to tell one another.

Yet that had been dispelled when Kiran paid no attention to the other Robin. She had been on the front lines for a few major battles, before she retreated into the depths of the castle, rarely being called to the front lines. As a matter of fact…she wasn't here today, either. All three of them missing…Tiki suddenly being so quick to counter sword wielders…like Sully. Tharja out-speeding Julia's attacks…her green magic. And Robin…where exactly did Robin play into all of this?

"Has anyone seen Roy?" Eliwood asked of the mess hall. "I've been waiting for him all this time, finally looking forward to sharing a meal with him, all grown up after all…"

Lyn shook her head.

"Maybe he's out exploring? Has anyone seen Roy?" Hector boomed over the voices of everyone else.

The cafeteria went silent.

Roy…Robin…where exactly did Robin play into all of this..?

Roy, legendary hero capable of destroying enemies vulnerable to his sword.

Robin, master tactician capable of standing up to the sturdiest daggers and sharpest arrows…

" _I saw them go in to the training grounds. Perhaps they're still there?"_ Felicia's words echoed in his head.

Alfonse stood up, almost automatically.

Anna eyed him curiously.

"Do you know where Roy is?" she asked.

But Alfonse did not answer. He turned on his heel, unaware of the stares he received. Eliwood, hearing Roy's name tuned his ear towards them. He looked between Alfonse and Anna, quickly catching up to Alfonse.

"Do you know where he is?" he asked.

"Yes," Alfonse answered mechanically.

"Oh, good. I was starting to get worried he'd run off somewhere without a guard. Not that he needs one, right? He can hold his own at his age."

But Alfonse didn't hear him. He took one step, two steps, an infinite of steps, one after the other nearing the training grounds. There were no sounds coming from within them, but there was a dim flash of blue light.

"Are people…training? At this hour?" Eliwood asked behind Alfonse who had come to a stop before the doors.

There was another flash of magic, this time red and then the familiar rainbow trance of what Alfonse immediately recognized as the light from Breidablik.

"What's going on in there…?" Eliwood, still confused, stepped forward. He pushed open the door revealing a scene that Alfonse refused to acknowledge.

In the center of the grounds was a body, small from this angle, but recognizable nonetheless.

Alfonse heard Eliwood's voice echo within the empty grounds, "Roy?!"

"That's—! That's my son!" he choked, staring at the immobile body of Roy.

Robin stood over the boy's body. His eyes glazed over as the magic between his fingers pulsed like a beating heart. Tharja stood in the shadows along with Kiran. They watched in silence as Robin absorbed the strands of magic into himself.

"What are you doing? What have you done to Roy?!" demanded Eliwood.

But it was all too obvious what had transpired.

Eliwood had drawn Durandal, the blade pointed at Robin, with one thought in mind.

Tharja, aware at the threat to Robin, stepped forward with her hand outstretched ready to protect him, but Kiran held her back.

Robin, the magic now completely absorbed, glowed momentarily.

Eliwood stepped forward, and before Alfonse could hold him back, the swordsman lunged at Robin.

"Wait—no!" Alfonse yelled.

Eliwood's sword never connected. He was sent back with a tremendous force of blue magic that scathed Alfonse as well. Eliwood's body, just as Roy's, now lay immobile. His eyes remained open, staring forever at the sky.

"What's all the commotion?" Anna's voice came from outside. The doors to the training grounds were thrown open, and everyone that had been in the mess hall stood on the other side of them.

"What's going on—" started the commander, but her voice was drowned out by the collective gasps behind her.

"I-is that Eliwood?"

"And Roy!"

"Are they dead?!"

The younger Tiki began to cry, sobbing, calling for her momma, and clutching desperately to her older self.

Confusion was spreading within the army at the sight, and with the confusion came fear and panic.

The commander stepped forward, her eyes steely and trained on Robin who stood between both bodies, arm still raised from his previous attack.

She seemed tormented by her thoughts, struggling for what her next words would be.

And Alfonse, too, was haunted by the scene before, still replaying in his head.

The dead expression on Robin's eyes, the way Kiran watched as he absorbed Roy's life-force. That was what had been happening all this time…

The heroes weren't going home. They were being murdered.

They were being killed by his friend, his trusted friend—

"It was for the greater good…" Kiran said.

And the entire barracks stared at him, horrified.

"Victory needs sacrifice…we must win…against Veronica…"

Alfonse looked at his friend and hardly recognized what he saw. He stood slack, the summoner's weapon looked weighing him down making him lean heavily to his right. He stared at the pitiful sight—the dead bodies of two heroes lay on the dirty floor; the empty expression Robin wore…

"I apologize," Alfonse spoke softly, "for placing such a burden on your shoulders when it should have been mine, as the prince of Askr."

He drew his sword from its sheath, holding the hilt firmly between his fingers. He pointed it at someone who he thought he would never have to raise his weapon against.

The commander drew her weapon as well, the silver axe pointed at Robin.

Robin and Tharja raised their arms, the magic already concentrating at the center of their palms.

"For the greater…good," Kiran said, once more.

* * *

based on vwyn19 's sweet fanart!

check it out below on twitter dot com

/vwyn19/status/847103129229275136


End file.
